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Detroit Hit Man Says He, Not Teen, Responsible For 4 Murders

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - An imprisoned hit man has signed a chilling affidavit taking responsibility for four murders at a Detroit drug house as part of a renewed effort free the young man who pleaded guilty to the same killings at age 15, attorneys said Wednesday.

Sanford (1) SDavisDavontae Sanford was 14, illiterate and blind in one eye when he walked up to police at the murder scene and immediately became a suspect. The affidavit from Vincent "Vito" Smothers - in prison for eight other killings - was filed in court by Sanford's new legal team that includes law professors at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University.

"We are just excited, that we have finally made it - we know that there are going to be some bumps that we hit. But we are going to get up, wipe our knees off and continue to fight until Devontae comes home," said Tomeka Sanford, Devontae's mother.

Lauren Howard, a third year law school student, investigated Smothers' claim.

"After sitting across the table from a convicted professional killer for hours and hours - listening to him describe how he committed the murders for which Devontae is in prison. I am personally, absolutely shocked, at the failure of our criminal justice system," she said.

Smothers, 34, said he confessed to the four killings - and several others - when police captured him in 2008. He uses extraordinary detail in the affidavit to describe his role in the four killings, and he expresses deep frustration that police and prosecutors refuse to acknowledge that the wrong man is behind bars.

"I have nothing to gain from testifying about my commission of the Runyon murders," said Smothers, a hired hit man who is serving 52 years in prison for killing eight other people, including the wife of a Detroit police officer.

Davontae Sanford
Davontae Sanford (Facebook photo)

"I only want to tell the truth in order to prevent an innocent kid from serving time for crimes that I committed," he said in the affidavit. "I hope to have the opportunity to testify in court to provide details and drawings of the crime scene that could only be known by the person who committed the crime: me."

Smothers has long expressed a willingness to help Sanford, first during a prison interview with The Associated Press in 2012. But a judge refused to allow him to testify during an earlier effort to throw out Sanford's conviction.

The Michigan Supreme Court declined to intervene in 2014, but left the door open for a fresh attempt to reopen the case. The high court noted that Sanford's attorneys had made critical procedural mistakes.

"Justice is sorely overdue," Sanford's new legal team said in a court filing.

Sanford (2) SDavisSanford's case is now being handled by the University of Michigan's Innocence Clinic and Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth. Along with the affidavit, the groups also filed documents in Wayne County Circuit Court requesting hearings on the new evidence and asking that a judge ultimately dismiss Sanford's guilty plea to second-degree murder.

Prosecutor Kym Worthy has refused to back away from Sanford's conviction, although her office acknowledged in a 2011 filing that some aspects of the case "elude explanation."

"At the appropriate time we will file a response and argue our legal position in court," spokeswoman Maria Miller said.

Sanford's lawyers said he was poorly served by his 2008 trial attorney, Robert Slameka, who didn't challenge the teen's confession or other evidence.

"This kid would not cooperate with me. When all else fails, blame the lawyer," Slameka told the AP. "I did everything I could do."
TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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